We Stand Together
by DbzKing313
Summary: The Crucible left everything and everyone with no power. As the Normandy disobeyed orders to abandoned Earth, those who followed are now stuck, floating I'm space, with no power and limited reserves. With a new threat on the rise, will Shepard be able to defeat them with most of the survivors stuck in space with no way of getting home?... We can only hope
1. Chapter 1

(Authors Note: Ok I wanted to give an attempt at making a Mass Effect story since I failed miserably at my Dragon Ball Z story. Plus I love the game and I wanted to do my own version. Right now this is a one-shot, if I get good reviews and people want me to continue you I will. This is an a/u. Any mess ups please let me know and all criticism is welcome. I hope you enjoy :) )

We Stand Together:

"Shepard..."

His voice echoed in her mind. She couldn't tell who is was or what they want. Her only job right now... Is survival. Each breathe ignites the flames she feels in her lungs. Everything hurts... Everything is going black and blurry.

"Shepard!"

The mans voice was starting to get louder...but the more she focused on it the harder it was for her to keep from blacking out. As the darkness creeps into the edge of her sight...her last thought was she hope the Normandy was safe...

"Shepard!" The man ran to the site where the destroyed Crucible was at. He went and started pulling off some of the debris off of her. He kept taking rubble off until he caught a glimpse of the n7 insignia.

"Shepard stay with me!" The man yelled he tried to open his omni-tool but it didn't open.

"Damn it! The crucible didn't destroy anything all it was, was a giant emp... Shepard stay awake I'm going to get help." The man ran as fast as he could to a ship named the Normandy. He went inside where he saw all of the crew waiting just outside the airlock.

"Tali I need you, Ken and Gabby to go to a reaper corpse. Try to salvage what you can to get the Normandy up and running. I need Liara, Dr Chakwas and anybody who could lift heavy debris to help me get the commander out she's alive but bearly." The man said in a panic.

"Right behind you Garrus." Liara said as her, Garrus and Dr. Chakwas ran out to where Shepard was located at. Liara used her biotics to move all the debris off of her. What they all saw made The Turian rebel's heart wrench in agony. Shepard face had burns on the side of her face along with scratches and gashes... Her neck was scorched black.. Her armor was melted onto her. Her legs were broken and some of the bone pierced her skin.

"We have to get her to the Normandy." Garrus said

"No we can't move her yet, we don't know the extent to the internal damages... Liara go back get a neck brace and a carrier so we can safey bring her in with out doing any more damage to what was already done." Dr. Chakwas said assertively. Liara ran back to the Normandy and took the emergency ladder to deck 3. She went inside got a container of medi-gel and the items the doctor asked for and brought it back to her.

"Here doctor... I saw tali she's working on restoring power." Liara told her

"Acknowledged Ms. T'soni now put medi-gel on any open wounds and some on her neck so I can put the neck brace on." Liara did as she was told and Dr. Chakwas put the neck brace on her then Liara biotically lifts her gently into the carrier. Garrus picked up onside while liara and Dr. Chakwas held the other and they carried her inside.

"Tali status?" Garrus asked her.

"Me, Ken and Gabby went to a reaper corpse and we found that the Crucible fried the reaper's motherboard. It's like for an organic being brain dead, everything is intact only thing is the brain isn't functioning, and I'm rambling aren't I... Look their power source was still intact so we stripped the power cells and are installing it. Power should be restored right about..." The lights went on and the elevator opened.

"Good job tali now try and see if you can get our coms and omni-tools up and running." They ran to the elevator and went down to deck 3. When the elevator opened they went inside the med bay. They put her on the table.

"Liara put on the leads and keep check of the heart monitor while I set the table to scan her." When they were getting things together they heard a voice they thought they wouldn't hear again.

"Enhanced Defense Intelligence online. May I be of assistance." Edi synthetic voice said.

"Joker must be going crazy... Edi I need you to do a full body on the commander. Also her armor is melted on to her any ideas how we can get it off?"

"Check in the armory in deck 5 there is an acid that will turn the metal into a liquid... Put medigel on any exposed skin to prevent the acid from damaging the skin. The scan is complete doctor loading results onto the screen."

"What the hell is acid doing in the armory?" The doctor asked

"We use it to mod our weapons, mount scopes, extended barrels that sort of stuff." Garrus answered.

"But wouldn't the acid eat right through the armor and hitting Shepard?" Liara asked.

"Medi-gel is made so that acid won't go through it incase you have to apply in the stomach area so all the acid would do is stay above the gel. In addition if you let the medi-gel slick through the armor by pouring it down where her neck is exposed it will give protection." Edi told them. Garrus went down to armory and founds what edi was talking about. They carefully did what edi told them to do and they successfully got the armor off.

"Ok Garrus you and Liara need to get out she has some internal bleeding and I need to open her up and I will not allow you guys to contaminate the room." Dr. Chakwas pushed them out the room and the panel on the door turned red. Garrus sighed and sat in a chair at the mess hall. Liara sat next to him and rubbed his back.

"She's going to be alright Garrus. She's hard headed she's not going to leave us like this. Especially when she has Archangel waiting for her." Liara said, causing his mandibles to flare in a Turian smirk.

"Prehaps your right..." Garrus whispered trying not to think of the condition of his mate. Joker's voice came through the comm system.

"Garrus we are getting some chatter on the comms. I think some of the engineers in the other ships thought the same way Tali did. What should I do?" Joker asked.

"Try to sort it out. See if you can get in touch with Admiral Hackett or Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard. Tell them the condition of the commander is critical but alive and that we need some support for injured out here as well our med bay won't be able to help." He said

"Trying to contact the in-laws huh gar-bear?" Joker grinned.

"Call me that again and I promise to throw you down the largest mountain this planet has!" Garrus yelled enraged.

"And the stick is back in the mud. Don't you need lube to reinsert the pole back in your ass Garrus." Joker said laughing at his own joke. Garrus growled.

"You do realize all I have to do is make you sneeze and you might crack a rib right, just image if a Turian fist accidentally came crushing down on top of your skull. Oh the carnage." Garrus said with venom and sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Gee it's just a joke." Joker said as he went searching for the right comm.

"And her mother probably doesn't even know about us. First with the collectors then with her getting grounded then next this all out war there probably wasn't even time to discuss it." Garrus said as he took the elevator to deck 2 and walked up to Joker.

"Well your in luck I'm patching you through to her." Joker said his grin getting bigger.

"Spirits I swear I hate-"

"This is rear admiral Hannah Shepard report your status." Hannah interrupted.

"Umm... This is officer Garrus Vakarian of the Normandy filling in for our co." He said getting nervous all of a sudden.

"Normandy?... How's Maddy what's your status." Hannah said worry in her voice.

"Madison Shepard is critical but alive she is having work done on her by Dr. Chakwas. We are where the reaper beam is at we ignored Admiral Hackett's order to abandon the area so we didn't get much damage when we landed."

"Is there anything you need in the area?" She asked.

"We need med evacs for the wounded on the ground we only have one doctor and limited supplies here. Also if you see a person by the name of Miranda Lawson please send her to these coordernares." Garrus told her.

"Miranda is with me here. She was on my team for the crucible project. I will come in a shuttle once I get one running to bring her with me as well as medical attention. Things are ok over here so I'm going to leave my xo in charge. I'll give you an eta once I'm headed your way, Shepard out." Hannah said and cut the call. Garrus breathed a sigh of relief. He sat on the floor and Joker turned his chair to face him.

"So it's finally over huh Garrus. Now we just rebuild and we drift apart again." Joker said with sadness in his voice.

"No not this time. If Shepard makes it through this. No when Maidson makes it through this she's not going to let them separate us." Garrus said letting the confidence ride in his voice.

"What makes you say that." Joker asked,

"Because Joker... In the years hunting for Saren, the collectors and now the reapers we built a bond and we are family... Me being the favorite of course." Garrus said making Joker roll his eyes causing a chuckle. " I mean we sound like a family of a rediculous bar joke. A crippled pilot, a Turian rebel, a Prothean, an Asari, a Quarian and the list goes on. And we fight and kill and protect each other." Garrus said with a Turian smile.

"And we stand together. Now matter the odds..."


	2. Chapter 2

(Author's Note: Ok after thinking over on where I can take this story I decided to continue with it. I'm updating it today just to get the chapter out my head now that I got it planned and I'm going to update every Sunday. So enjoy and please review.)

Chapters 2:

Garrus and Joker stood there in comfortable silence, just looking out and observing the damage.

"Hey, sorry about the whole pole in the ass joke." Joker said.

"Don't worry about it... Beside the mountains on this planet aren't high enough to throw you down anyway." Garrus said making Joker chuckle. Things went silence again as they both looked out the window. There was debris everywhere. People on the ground some dead some alive injured badly. Some missing arms, or a leg. Buildings crushed and the crucible destroyed.

"Do you think we can rebuild?" Joker said. Garrus nodded and gently put his hand on jokers shoulder.

"It will take some time and cooperation with the other race, not to mention resources. But it will someday." Garrus said with a Turian smile. After about an hour conversation Edi said.

"Officer Vakarian, Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard and Miranda Lawson request permission to board."

" Permission granted, I'll meet them by the airlock." Garrus said as he walked to it. He opened to reveal Hannah Shepard and Miranda behind her.

"Rear Admiral, Miranda welcome to the Normandy. If you follow me I will take you to the medbay." He said and walked to the elevator with them following.

"What's the damages?" Miranda asked. Garrus stepped in the elevator and sighed, his mandibles tightened against his face in discomfort remembering the image of his mate battered and broken on the ground.

"From what I can tell just from sight...broken both legs, burns on a lot of her body, scratches, gashes. Dr. Chakwas said internal bleeding. That's all i know the doctor did a scan she should know more." Garrus said. Hannah looked to the ground upset.

"My poor Maddy... Will she make it?" Hannah said looking up at him.

"We can only hope..." Garrus said looking away from her. The elevator opened and he walked to the medbay, the panel was still red.

"Dr. Chakwas, it's Garrus, Miranda and Real Admiral Shepard is here." Garrus said through the comm.

"Send Miranda in and occupy Shepard's mom. I only need people with medical experience." Dr. Chakwas said as the panel went green. Miranda went in be it went back to red again.

"Would you like to go up to Madison's cabin? We can talk and I can answer any questions you have." Garrus said and she nodded. They took the elevator up to deck one and went through the door, they took a step in but stopped when they heard growling.

"Urz! Stand down it's me!" Garrus yelled. The Varen stalked from his hiding spot and saw Garrus. He sat down and his tongue stuck out

"A Varren how the hell?" Hannah said shocked.

"Madison's pet." Garrus said.

"Wait a sec..." Hannah said as she thought for a moment. Then it hit her light a headbutt from a Krogan.

*flashback*

Hannah was doing her rounds, checking in on her crew and progress on the Crucible when the pilot said over comm.

"Rear Admiral Shepard, you have a call from Commander Shepard." The Pilot said.

"I'll take it in my room." Hannah said as she walked to her room. She sat down on a chair and accepted. The call.

"This is Rear Admiral Shepard."

"Hi mom!" Madison said.

"Hello Maddy how are you?" Hannah asked

"I'm fine mom. Just had a hell of a leave on the Citadel." Madison said.

"Oh really? And how was it." Hannah asked intrigued.

"Well, besides fighting a random group of mercs I've never seen before in my life, falling through a fist tank, finding out it was a former Cerberus officer behind the attacks and my clone. Then having to fight as they took control of the Normandy then getting control again. Then once all of that was done I threw a major party." Madison said.

"You know I still can't comprehend how you was dead for two years." Hannah said.

"Yea... I still can't either. I've got a second chance at life. I'm not going to waste it... That's why there's a special someone you need to meet." Madison said. Hannah smiled.

"So you finally found that special someone? What's his name." Hannah said.

"I'm not telling you anything until you meet him." Shepard said.

"And what if we don't survive the attack against the reapers? Shouldn't I know who this mysterious man is? Or woman if you swing that way." Hannah said causing Madison to laugh.

"It's a guy mom. He's had my six since I met him. I was going to work up the courage to tell him I was interested, but I died. Then I wake up and I have to assemble a crew and by coincidence he's the first person I recruit. Ever since then... He's my mate, and I love him."

"Well that's fantastic honey, I look forward to meeting him, and we will survive this and we will win. No matter what happens... Just know I'm so proud of you. You deserve some happiness." Hannah said and she smiled. "I have to go now it was a pleasure speaking with you honey. I love you sweetheart."

"I love you to mom. See you on the other side." Madison said and cut the call.

*End of flashback*

"You? You're Madison's mate?" Hannah asked in shock. Garrus' mandibles widened in surprise.

"Umm how did you find out?" Garrus managed to say.

"We spoke. Talked about her events on the Citadel during her leave. She told me she wanted me to meet someone special. Someone who had her six since they met. Am I talking to that man or not officer." Hannah said staring into his pale blue eyes. He sighed.

"Madison is my mate... Boyfriend in human terms." Garrus said as he looked at her. Hannah stared back and walked as close as he could to him. Then she shocked him as she gave him a hug with a death squeeze only an admiral could have.

"You're the one that been making my Maddy happy." Hannah said.

"Umm... Yea umm... We can go sit on the couch and I can tell you more about us." Garrus said nervous. Hannah nodded and let go and walked over to the couch.

"So how did you guys meet?" Hannah asked.

"First you have to tell me how long you plan on staying." Garrus said

"Until they decide to Court Martial me. Your not the only one who went against Hackett's orders." Hannah said with a smile.

"I'll have Edi assign you a room on deck 3... Now back to your question. It started on a chase to find Saren. She came and I was trying to find evidence against him. I knew he was up to something. However he's a Spectre, everything he did was classified. I asked for more time but it wasn't given. So I went to go find more regardless. I went to go see a doctor in the wards. When I got there the goons of a man named Fist was there holding her captive. I was looking for an opening to shoot who held her. Madison came in providing the distraction I needed to shoot the guy who had her captive. We finished off the rest then she yelled at me. 'What was you thinking you could of hit the hostage' " Garrus said and his mandibles flared into a grin.

"After we Recruited Wrex and Tali we went on our search for Saren... Every day she did her rounds and came to talk to everyone... She wore what she called Basketball shorts and her n7 shirt... Barefoot too... What a Basketball is and why she didn't wear no type of boots is beyond me." Garrus said making Hannah chuckle.

"For Humans when we have a place we are staying at or in our homes we walk around Comfortably. We don't wake up and dress in our formal blues just to have breakfast. So most likely being bare foot and in shorts is her way of dressing comfortable. Oh and a basketball is a round object that bounces and you throw it in a hoop... It's a sport." Hannah said.

"Well anyway that's how it's been for the whole duration of our travels. We picked up Liara, almost killed Wrex but he saw to reason. She lost Kaiden Alenko. She took me on every mission. Then the battle came. It was me and Tali. She talked Saren into killing himself. Then the reaper tech came alive and we was shooting at a synthetic Saren. Once that was over she ordered to save the Destiny Ascension. After we were patched up we went off to find some Geth ship. Me and her already had a bond and I wanted to become more then just close friends. Right when I'm waiting for the elevator to find her, there was an explosion. I was pushed into an escape shuttle and then the news came. The Normandy was destroyed. Madison was gone..." He looked on the floor. There was silence between them Dr. Chakwas alerted them.

"Garrus you and the Admiral can come to the medbay she is stable but in a comma." Dr. Chakwas said. Garrus got up and Hannah nodded at him and they went down to deck three.


	3. Chapter 3

(Authors Note: I hope you all are enjoying the story. For future references, expect an update every Sunday but there may be times I update early because, either I got it done early or I just couldn't wait to upload it. Well again enjoy and please Review and tell me your thoughts. Sorry forgot to edit the chapter so I took it down and revised it. Also I am changing the rating T.)

Chapter 3:

The elevator ride down to deck three was silent. The door opened and went to the medbay to see Dr. Chakwas and Miranda standing infront of the door.

"Garrus, Admiral Shepard... We did what we could... Her cybernetics are working... We used the power source of the Reapers to bring them back online. She had a concussion, her spine is bruised, all of her ribs were broken but thankfully it didn't pierce a vital organ or a lung. As u saw her legs are damaged badly, we had to push the bones back into place, then place them in the right position and put it in a cast. Not to mention the amount of medigel we used to even begin the healing process of her legs. We stitched up wounds medigel couldn't close, we also started the skin regeneration process to heal the burns on her body. We have her in a medical comma. The sedatives we gave her can knockout 10 Krogan easily. We don't want to risk her waking up and moving around since sedatives don't seem to work on her." Dr. Chakwas looked at Miranda when she said the last line.

"What? It was a safety measure incase she was kidnaped. She also can't get drunk unless she drinks that radioactive Krogan liquor." Miranda said "Also a safety measure."

"Right..." Garrus said sarcastically "She just passes out."

"She actually drank it?" Hannah asked

"Yes... In fact." Garrus tried his best to mimic her. " 'More of the stuff in the thing more stuff goes in' your safety measure didn't do a thing. I never seen Shepard drop so hard and so fast to the ground."

"It isn't my fault she thought she could handle it." Miranda said with a huff.

"Stop your bickering already!" Dr. Chakwas said sternly making both of them shut up. "Anyway we put her in a body cast ,with the cybernetics in place and online her ribs will heal in about a day or two. From there we will wake her up and check to see if there's anything wrong neurologically, but I think she's ok, her bran wave patterns shows that she's dreaming, which is a very excellent sign. We will take off the body cast and just leave the legs in cast... She can travels around in a wheelchair IF and I'm going to repeat it again IF she's being pushed, escorted and with somebody... She's not to lift anything or push herself in any way possible. If she needs to go to the bathroom, Garrus I expect you to help her, you seen enough to help her so you shouldn't worry." Dr. Chakwas said with a grin. She looked over to see Hannah staring at him in mock anger and she could of sworn if Turians could blush, he would be blushing right now.

"Um, Ahem, is that *cough* is that all?" Garrus asked nervously while giving it his best effort to avoid Hannah's gaze.

"Yes one more thing. When she wakes makes sure you three figure out what to do next. The only comm chatter are from those stuck on earth who figured out how to get their power online. Alliance ships can last sometime with out power, however it's best we figure out how to get them a fast as we can because there's a lot of them. Don't think we should wait long when they are in space." Miranda said to them. They nodded and went inside. Hannah looked at Madison and gasped. Madison had a breathing tube down her throat, she was in a cast from the neck down, she looked beaten and tired. Hannah grabbed a chair and sat next to the bed and slowly and gently caressed Madison's hand. Garrus grabbed a chair also and sat next to Hannah.

"Hey honey... It's me mom... I don't know if you can hear me... I'm here with Garrus. I'm so glad you made. Dr. Chakwas did a good job on you. I love you sweetheart and we're going to be here when you wake up." Hannah said with a smile. She then looked at Garrus. "You think you can tell me more of your adventures with Maddy?"

"Sure. I'm going to start where I left off." Garrus said he took a deep breath going back into his memory. "After the Normandy was lost, I never realized how much Madison ment to me until she was gone. It ate at me that I would never be able to tell her how I felt. I cut contact with my family. I left C-Sec and went to Omega and became the vigilante called Archangel. I had my own squad and we were doing more good on Omega then I did in C-Sec. But one of my squad members, Sidonis..." His tongue burned with Venom when he said his name. "He betrayed me and my squad. All of them were killed. I was bearly able to make it out alive. Then I had all the merc groups teaming up. The Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack, joined forces to end Archangel. I was sniping freelancers left and right. They were all disorganized. Then..." He looks over at Shepard. "Then I saw her."

*Flashback*

_Garrus just sniped another freelancer in the head. Watching as the man fell backwards and landed on the floor with thud_

_"Scoped and dropped." He whispered to himself. His visor caught the heartbeat of three more freelancers making their way across the bridge." He lined up his sniper._

_'Hmmm... Helmet's too thick for a headshot. Let me see if there's a soft spot on her armor." He zoomed in and looked her over. Then he almost dropped his gun at what he saw._

_"No...no... The N7... The use of a Mantis rifle, the way she moves, ahead of the two people behind her. No, no it can't be Shepard it just can't be." He started firing on any other freelancers behind her. He heard the door trying to be hacked but he knew who ever it was that was coming would take care of them. He heard the sound of gunshots behind him as he eyed the last freelancer trying to make his way inside the compound. He heard the door open._

_"Archangel?" The person said. He held up his hand to silence her as he focused and took out the last freelancer._

_'Her voice... No it can't be.' He walked over to a stand and sat on it. The person pressed a button on her armor and it released her helmet, she took it off. He stood in shock as he studied her pale skin, and looked directly into her piercing gray eyes. She watched as her blonde curles fell to her shoulders. She stood there admiring her eyes._

_'That color, the determination in them, it's her.' He took off his helmet and looked directly at her ignoring the two behind her._

_"Shepard... I thought you was dead." He finally said. He watched the determination in her eyes turn from confusion and shock to joy when her lips curled up into a smile._

_"Garrus!" She said she spread her arms and stepped closer. He stood up and she wrapped her arms around him. He returned the gesture and held her tight against him. She looked up at him._

_"How many times do I have to tell you to call me by my name." She looked up at him sternly but could see it was all an act._

_"You been gone for so long I didn't know if it was really you or not." Garrus said. She unlatched her arms and let go._

_"I'm sorry Garrus. I'll explain everything back on this ship." She said with a smile._

_"Ahem?" They turned around and looked behind them and saw a man with a woman next to him talking to them._

_"Care to introduce us?" The man said._

_"Garrus this is Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson. Jacob, Miranda, this is my former squad mate and close friend Garrus Vakarian." Shepard said. Garrus looked at them, then he saw the Cerberus insignia. He turned away and looked out the window ignoring them. They went and took out the Eclipse and the leader. They took a breather and then alarms went off._

_"Damn it, they had to use there heads eventually. Madison go down, you need to close three doors. If you don't this place will be over run by mercs and we will be done for." Garrus said._

_"What about you? I'm not going to leave you here by yourself." She said. His heart melted with her concern._

_"I'll be fine." Garrus said to her. Madison looked at him and then to her group. "Jacob, Miranda you two go downstairs and close those doors, ill stay here with Garrus." She said._

_"But commander? I don't think it's a good-" Jacob said but was cut off. In a flash Madison was face to face with the Cerberus officer._

_"Jacob!" She yelled anger flashed in her eyes. "Follow your damn orders Your a marine, get your act together and do what I say or I will throw you in the nearest Cerberus station I find. Do. I. Make. My. Self. Clear?" Madison stood staring into his eyes. He backed up._

_"Yes commander I apologize." Jacob said and moved out with Miranda in tow. She looked at Garrus and he shook his head._

_"My my Madison, you usually don't yell at the crew." Garrus said as he started to shoot some mercs that were trying to make his their way through. Madison followed his lead and did the same._

_"I don't trust Cerberus. Yeah they brought me back from the dead and are fighting the Reapers just like I am. I'm only doing this because the Alliance are not helping. They said they would follow me no questions asked. Jacob was ready to protest so I shut him down before he could get a word." She said and there was silence between them. "Still keeping score?" She asked and he gave her a Turian grin. _

_"I'm winning. Just like old times." He said._

_"In your dreams." She said with a grin. They continued competing with who could get the most kills when Miranda contacted them through the comm._

_"Commander, we sealed all three doors. However the Blood Pack leader is heading up the stairs." Miranda said._

_"Garrus on my six, I want an overload then a concussive shot at the Krogan warlord. If he gets close hit him in the quad." Madison told him and they waited for him to get up the stairs. He came into view he hit him with an overload the took out his shields and the concussive shot threw him off balance. Then Madison switched to shredder ammo and shot the Krogan in between the eyes and watched as he fell._

_"And with that I believe I just won." She said with a grin. Garrus grinned back._

_"That doesn't count. I could of easily taken him out. If you didn't order me to set up your kill I would have beaten you." He said. Then the sound of a gunship could be heard._

_"Take cover!" Miranda yelled as she grabbed Madison and drove her behind cover. Jacob went behind cover as well, Garrus turned around looking cover when the Gunship fired a rocket at him. Then it all went back. He didn't know up from down or what was going on, he couldn't breathe._

_'Madison is finally back in my life. She came back and found me. And I'm just going to die with out trying to make this work. No... I can't die... I can't...' He opened his eyes and gasped._

_"Garrus!" She yelled overcome with emotion. "Joker I need a medevac now! Garrus was shot with a rocket and badly damaged." He looked at him and applied pressure to the wound. "Stay with me Garrus, I need you..."_

*End Flashback*

"We killed all the mercs and their leaders. Then I got shot in the face with a rocket. I woke up to her. Telling me to stay with her, that she needed me. They bring me back to the med bay. They get me all patched up, some cybernetics in my mandibles.

"Then what happened?" Hannah asked.

"She took me up to her cabin, she told me what happened. How she came back. I told her I'm not going anywhere that I'll watch her six and I'm fit for duty when ever she needed me." Garrus said.

"That's so sweet." Hannah said.

"It's getting kind of late... Edi can you direct Admiral Shepard to her bunk?" Garrus asked

"Yes officer, I will direct her when she is ready." Edi said.

"Well goodnight Hannah, I'm going to stay here with Madison." Garrus said.

"Ok Garrus, sleep well." She smiles and leaves the medbay. Garrus moved as close as he could to Madison and placed a talon on her hand and slowly caresses her. He leaned back in the chair closes his eyes and falls asleep.

*Next day*

Dr. Chakwas came into the med bay to see Garrus asleep in a chair. She smiles and slowly shakes him awake.

"Garrus... Garrus wake up we are going to wake up the commander." Dr. Chakwas said. His eyes opened and he got up and stretched.

"Good morning doctor. We waking her up?" Garrus asked.

"Yes I just need to make sure her ribs are healed and her concussion is gone... Edi I want a full scan and I want results as soon as you finish." Dr Chakwas said.

"Yes Doctor." Edi said.

"Oh Edi please alert Read Admiral Shepard please." She said.

"I have alerted Hannah Shepard she is on her way to the medbay." Edi says. Hannah walked into the medbay.

"Good morning Doctor, Garrus." Hannah said.

"Good morning Hannah. Edi do you have the results?" Dr. Chakwas asked

"Yes Doctor. Brain scans show no damage. Torso scan shows her ribs are 80% healed. Rest and Relaxation is recommended to complete healing. Lower body scans shows cybernetics are working sufficiently and should be heal between 1-2 weeks. " Edi told her.

"Thank you Edi. Can you send Miranda in here so we can remove the top half of the body cast." She said. Miranda came through the door and got prepared for the removal. They took an electric saw and started cutting off the cast.

"Ok it's open on three gently pull open the cast... One... Two... Three!" They opened the cast and pulled it away from her. They examined her body.

"A couple of bruises, everything looks healed... Garrus can you get her a shirt?" He went upstairs to their cabin and grabbed her favorite N7 shirt and one of her shorts she likes to wear on her rounds. He goes down and gives it to Dr. Chakwas

"Shorts Garrus?" She asked.

"The cast does not cover any of her um private areas on the lower half of her body." Garrus said a little nervous. Dr. Chakwas shook her head and Garrus helped her carefully put a shirt on her and the shorts.

"Ok we are going to wake her up." Dr. Chakwas said and walked to her and pulled out the breathing tube and then walked to the computer. She slowly lowered the dosage of the Sedatives until they were no longer in her system. She started to stir and slowly she opened her eyes as she got adjusted to the bright lights of the medbay.

"Shepard how are you feeling?" Dr. Chakwas asked. Madison pointed to some water and they gave her a cup. She drank it quickly and coughed a little.

"I feel like a pregnant Krogan sat on me... Did we win?" Madison asked.

"Yea we won thanks to you." Garrus said. Her eyes brightened at the sound of his voice.

"Gar-Bear I'm glad you made it." She smiled at him. Garrus growled at the giggles behind him.

"Your lucky your in no condition to defend yourself." Garrus said in anger, but his sub-harmonics told otherwise.

"I know big guy I'm just happy to see you." She smiled up at him and turned to Hannah.

"Hi mom!" She said and reached out to her. Hannah came and gave her a hug taking extra care not to hurt Madison.

"Hi Maddy. Glad to see your doing well." Hannah said.

"How did you get here? What's going on are we the only survivors?" Shepard asked.

"No sweetheart there are many survivors. Your Tali figured out that the Crucible is just a overpowered emp. Their power source was still intact and was able to bring the ships and our omni-tools and comms back online. Other ships figured it out as well but all comm chatter is from those stuck on earth.

"Hmm... I'm going to have to go to the Joker and sort out all comm chatter." She moved to get off the bed when Dr. Chakwas and Garrus jumped and grabbed her to stop.

"Oh no no no Commander, I put too much work for you to break anything already. You are confined to a wheelchair and to be pushed by someone that is not up for negotiation." Dr. Chakwas said sternly.

"Fine doctor..." She said obviously upset they brought a wheelchair in and Garrus gently picked her up and sat her in it.

"Where to Madison?" Garrus asked.

"Deck two, mom come with us." Madison said. They went into the elevator and headed up.

"Um mom did Garrus tell you-"

"Yes he did honey and I'm happy for you two." Hannah said with a smile and patted her shoulder. They went out the elevator and started walking when they heard a squeal and a purple blur run towards them.

"Madison I'm so glad your okay." The accented voice of her favorite little Quarian said as she hugged her. "We thought you wasn't going to make it... Seeing you all battered and broken... While I was rushing to bring power back online so they can treat you... Don't ever do something so stupid and go into battle without us again." Tali said in between sobs. Madison rubbed her back.

"Hey it's ok, no need to cry. Remember I told you, you're like my little sister, well I only did it to protect you. Now go to engineering and make sure the Normandy is able to fly incase we need to." Madison said. Tali nodded and went down to deck four. Hannah just smiled and continue to walk with them.

"Hey Commander your alive!" Joker yelled from his seat.

"Good to see you too Joker." She replied.

"I am also glad to see you are recovering well Shepard." Edi said to her.

"So the crucible didn't destroy synthetic life?" Madison asked.

"No. Tali'Zorah said that the crucible did what organics would call 'brain damage.' After running a search I concluded that brain damage for organics means the signals from the brain utterly stops causing everything to stop working. For the reapers, it means their motherboard short-circuited and in Jeff's words, 'Got knocked out.' " Edi said to her.

"Ok so then that's how the power supply was still intact and you were able to be brought back online. The ships in orbit must be unable to find a reaper corpse or can't get to the power supplies. Which means they are stuck until somebody gets them... Joker patch me into the comm." Madison said.

"Patching you through." Joker said.

"Ladies and gentlemen this is Commander Madison Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2. The war is over and we are victorious. However we are now in the stages of rebuilding. If you can hear me it means you know how to get power back online in your ships. There are thousands of ships in orbit who can't get to a power source. I want ships who are able to safely go into orbit help out and get ships power and resources. Those who can't, I want emergency hospitals up and running, search and rescue missons. Anything we as a galaxy united need to survive and rebuild do it. We won this war working together, we need to do the same thing to rebuild. If you are going into orbit please contact me on this frequency and any Normandy crew members who wish to embark on this mission we are departing in two hours. Contact me for coordinates. Good luck to all and bless you all." Madison said and cut the comm.

"Excellent speech commander." Joker said. Then a comm came in.

"SSV Normandy, this is the SSV Athena asking permission to speak to Commander Shepard." A lady said.

"This is Commander Shepard who is on the line?" Madison asked.

"This is Captin Reyes, we are making preparations for departure to orbit." Captin Reyes said.

"Excellent any other ships?" She asked.

"Yes, the SSV Lincon and the SSV Roosevelt are also departing for orbit. There are other ships who will be staying on earth to help with the rebuild and rescue efforts." Reyes says.

"Excellent, good luck and if you get to admiral Hackett before I do please have him contact me." She said.

"Understood Commander, Reyes out." Reyes said and cut the line. Madison looked at Garrus and Joker.

"Ready for another mission boys?" Madison asked.

"Just like old times huh Commander?" Joker asked as they waited to see if anyone else would be joining them."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Madison being pushed by Garrus, walked towards the elevator with Hannah in tow.

"So mom are you going back to your ship or you're staying for the mission?" Madison asked.

"I think I will stay. My ship is grounded with a whole in its hull. My XO is most likely helping with emergency hospitals." Hannah said. She nodded and they went to deck three.

"How are you stocked up Maddy?" Hannah asked.

"Lovely, we restocked on everything before we went for the final battle. Thermal clips, Levo and Dextro food, medigel. You name it. If I have all my crew back we have enough for a years time." Madison said.

"Just incase." Hannah added with a smile. They went to the Kitchen area and Garrus brought her to a table.

"Hungry?" Garrus asked?

"Yea get me anything?" Madison said.

"You want anything Hannah?" Garrus asked.

"Yea anything is good also." Garrus nodded and went to the kitchen.

"Such a gentlemen. You picked a good one sweetheart." Hannah said. Madison smiled as he watched Garrus gather food for them. Then the comm opened.

"Commander, we have multiple people asking for permission to board?" Joker said.

"Who?" She asked

"Ashley, Vega, Cortez, Wrex, Grunt and Javik." Joker said.

"Permission granted. Edi keep Javik in his room, and assign the others to any available. And if they are looking for me I am on deck three." Madison said.

"Understood." Joker said. Garrus came back with three trays, one had some sort of meat that neither Madison or Hannah recognized and the other two trays had eggs and beacon with a cup of coffee.

"I don't know how you like your coffee Hannah so I left it black." Garrus said with a Turian smile. Hannah gave him her thanks and began to eat as well Madison... It was the best meal they had in weeks.

"Wow Garrus, you out did yourself." Madison said with a smile.

"Where did you learn to Handle human food?" Hannah asked.

"Back when the Normandy was still a Cerberus ship, the Mess Sargent taught me how to handle levo foods when I wanted to make something for Madison. It's fairly easy." Garrus said. Then all of sudden they heard a loud roar.

"SHEPARD!" Then the sound of heavy foot steps came charging toward them. They turned around and saw the red blur pick up Shepard with chair and all.

"Shepard! My friend it's good to see you alive!" They all stared at the Krogan warlord.

"Wrex it's good to see you to but do you think you can put me down." Madison said with laughter in her voice. He put her down and sat on the table with a thud.

"Glad to see you up and about Shepard. Regardless of this contraption your in." Wrex said. Then everyone stated filling in.

"Hey Lola, glad to see your ok." James said as patted her on the shoulder. Grunt, Javik and Ashley all came in and sat down with them.

"Thanks James." Shepard said. Then she raised her voice. "Ok everyone lets gets down to business. First thing first let me introduce you all to my mom Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard." Madison said. Hannah got a few hellos from the crew.

"Ahh! So your the one who bred this hero. It is an honor." Wrex said.

"And it is an honor as well Wrex." Hannah said with a smile.

"Now that introductions are out of the way let me explain the mission a little more. We are some of the only ships to have power in the galaxy. We are going to help those stuck in orbit get power. While we are doing that we will be searching for admiral Hackett. Hopefully he didn't go through the mass relay. If he is in orbit of Earth we will ask to carry out our mission to help those who still can't get power and figure out a way to turn on the mass relays. Now mind you this is a lengthy process, we will be flying FTL. So while we are here, entertain yourself. When I'm back on my feet and medically clear to go on missions I will be starting Mixed Martial Arts classes and Tournaments. We have a Poker table in one of the rooms. If you wanna build anything we have four of the best engineers on our ship, have them help out. If anyone has any ideas of anything they might find entertaining, just bring it to my attention and we will make it happen. On our way to each relay if there is a place you want to get off at so be it. Just know if you change your mind we can't come back to get you... Any questions? " Madison said and looked around the rooms. Everyone stood quiet.

"Good. I had Edi set you all up for a room... Joker when your ready head out and start searching." Madison said as they took off. Over the next two weeks they went and restored power to any ship they saw. There we some Aliance ships and Turian ships. Even one ship part of the Quarian Flotilla. Madison finally got her cast off and has been allowed to go on missions again. Dr. Chakwas still can't believe how fast cybernetics makes recovery. However Madison was greatful not to be on a wheelchair anymore. Right now they were renovating the armory for a football game. They painted lines on the ground for yards. In one team it was James, Javik, Wrex and Ashley, against, Garrus, Grunt, Cortez and Tali. After all the rules were explained to those who didn't know the game the got ready.

"Ok so activate the football program on your omni-tools and select the color your team will be so you can recognize them easier." Tali told James and Garrus. James selected and his teams omni-tools flashed on and had a green aura around them. Garrus did the same and his team had a yellow aura. Then tali typed into her omni-tool and a orange omni-football was displayed. James threw a thermal clip in the air and caught it. Then Garrus grabbed it on top of James hand. Then James other hand went on top of his and Garrus hand went on top of the Thermal clip.

"We go first." Garrus said as they got into position. While this was going on Madison went to the Cockpit

"How is things going Joker?" Madison asked.

"We just got commed by Admiral Hackett." Joker said.

"Patch us through." Madison said.

"Commander? It seems we won this war." Hackett said.

"Yes sir. Those remaining on earth are helping with rebuild efforts, while the Normandy and a few other ships are restoring power to those who are stranded." Madison said.

"Excellent... I am going to earth with ships to help with rebuilding as well. I want you to continue to carry out this mission. Also I want you to figure out how to get the relays online. Once you do jump through and repeat the process. Also tell your mother and your pilot I was in the wrong for wanting to abandon earth. They were right to stay and I apologize. I have to go Commander good luck, Hackett out." Hackett said.

"Well that's good. Looks like I still have a job." Joker said. Madison just shook her head.

"So where we headed to know." Madison asked.

"Scanners picked up another ship about twenty minutes away." Joker said but then got serious. "Wait a sec... I think there was a distress call for the ship... Edi see if you can clear it up and give me audio feedback."

"Analyzing..." Edi said then played the feedback "Mayday, Mayday, this Major Miller of the SSV Rampage requesting back up. We have a Cerberus sleeper agent on bored. He's killing all my crew and the civilians we saved from Earth earlier. Please send help or we all going to Ahh!-..." The distress call was cut before he could finish.

"Are there any signs of life?" Madison asked.n

"No Commander. The distress call must of been sent after the crucible fired. Otherwise we would not have picked it up." Joker said.

"Go in dark, stay alert. Edi have Garrus, Tali and Ashley suit up and meet me in front of the airlock." Madison said. The lights inside the Normandy dimmed and she went to her cabin. She went and found her back up armor.

'Im so glad I bought a backup." She thought to herself as she put on her charcoal, black armor with blue patterns that match the patterns on Garrus face. She then pulled out her Indra sniper rifle, Striker Assult rifle and a M-77 Paladin pistol.

"Edi sync my visor and targeting protocols from my old armor to this one and to my rifles and pistol please." Madison asked.

"Acknowledge, syncing... Syncing complete Shepard." Edi said. Madison then minimized her guns and put her rifles on her back and her pistol on her hip. She stretched a little bit, grabbed her helmet and went to the elevator. She got out on deck two and walked to the airlock.

"Madison what happened? We were in a game and ready to finish off Ashley and James when we were called to get geared up." Garrus said.

"There was a distress signal, Cerberus sleeper agent awoke after the crucible fired so we are investigating." Madison said. "Ok Guys weapons drawn. Edi activate docking protocols, Tali when the docking bridge connects I want you to hack open the airlock. Garrus, Ashley stay sharp and alert." They all nodded.

"Docking commencing... Docking bridge is complete, you may board commander." Edi said. Madison nodded at Tali and she went to the airlock. Tali opened up her omni-tool and began hacking. After about a few minutes the first airlock opened.

"First door opened Madison, commencing on the second." Tali said, then she started on the second. After a few minutes a hissing sound could be heard as the second door opened.

"Edi once we are inside we are closing the door and going radio silent I don't know who might be listening." Madison said as she started walking inside.

" Acknowledged Shepard." Edi said. Madison went inside and all the lights are off. She turned on the flashlight on her Striker and looked at he area. There were bodies everywhere. She went to the nearest one and searched her body for what killed her.

"Stabbed, who every is killing them is doing so with a knife of some sort. Looks like everyone died the same way." Let's go to the cockpit and see if we can establish power." Madison said as she got up and started walking. When they got there they saw the pilot dead in his chair.

"He didn't even see it comin, who ever it is got him by surprise." Madison said. "Tali get the power back on." Tali did as she was told and got the power back on.

"Madison there is a VI on this vessel, maybe we should activate it to find out more information." Tali said. She nodded and activated it.

"Hello I am the Virtual Intelligence of the SSV Rampage, how may I be of assistance?" The VI asked.

"How many decks are on this ship?" Madison asked.

"This is a relatively small ship compared to some in the Aliance Navy. There are currently three decks in the ship. Deck one is the Combat Information Center. Deck two is the Crew deck. Deck three is the Engineering and armory." The VI said.

"What kind of small ship has their armory and engineering all in one deck?" Madison asked

"The SSV Rampaged was designed for receiving and delivering high priority targets that have already been captured. We have no ground team only guards for the brig in deck two. During the emergency reaper war, this ship was used for rescuing civilians. This ship departed Earth under the orders of Admiral Hackett, with a ship full of civilians." The VI said.

"I would like to access security cameras for a Specture investigation." Madison said.

"Please enter you name." The VI said.

"Specture Madison Shepard, current commander of the SSV Normandy." Madison said.

"Under Council rules you are granted full access." The VI said and a screen opened up on the panel by the pilot revealing the security cameras. She rewinded it until she saw the Co-pilot's eyes turn a pale blue as be got up and killed the pilot.

"Ok team that's who we are looking for. Find a body, I doubt he's alive. I want you three to check deck three. I'm going to finish looking at the camera feed before I go check deck two. We will meet there. Salvage whatever you can also." Madison said.

"Are you sure Madison?" Garrus asked. She smiled at him.

"I'll be fine big guy. You worry too much." She said gazing into his eyes. He nodded and left. She turned her gaze backed to the camera feed. She watched, skimming through the video when she stopped at something that caught her attention.

*Camera feed*

_The girl carrying a bundle in a pink blanket walked to the mess hall in search of something to eat. She looked up and saw the co-pilot walking to one of the guards. She was about to wave at him when she saw the glow in his eyes. She stopped dead in her tracks and ran away in a different direction. She heard a sound of choking and started to panic. She took the bundle and put it on a pile of alliance uniforms in a faculty closet and and closed the door. She looked and found a pistol. She turned around and saw the co-pilot staring at her. The terrified girl fired the gun and he got hit in the neck. He ignored it and threw the knife at the girl and she collapsed lifelessly. He then stalked the closet. He grabbed the door knob then suddenly fell face first to the ground..._

*End Camera feed*

Madison's eyes sparked with a determination to scare a reaper into wetting it self. She marched to the emergency hatch and took the ladder down to deck two. She went to the first body and it was a young looking girl. Maybe early 20's, maybe even early. She checked her body for anything to identify her. She found an omni-tool and put it in her pouch on her belt and went to the closet. She opened the door to find a screaming infant in a blanket on top of the Aliance uniforms.

"Guys I need you all here ASAP go to deck two!" She said into her comm as she picked up the infant. She slowly swayed her arms back and forth trying to soothe the screaming child.

"Shhh it's ok, your safe... You must be hungry lets try to find you something." She took the child in a soft voice. She started walking towards the kitchen area. She found a bottle labeled 'Faith'. She took it.

"You have pretty name little one." Madison said. She took the tip of the bottle and put it to the child's lips. The little girl took it in her mouth and sucks on it. She heard foot steps behind her.

"Shepard is everything ok?" Ashley asked

"Yea" she said and turned around.

"I found a little survivor." Shepard said with a smile. Garrus' mandibles were tight against his face in shock. Ashley's mouth was wide open, Tali's eyes were wide in her visor.

"Guys you can snap out of it now." Shepard said with an amused smile. They all said sorry.

"Ok guys. Ashley I want you to scan him and find an ID in Alliance records. Tai scan the dead woman over there and use the VI to find where she was bunked at. Then me and you will find anything for the Faith.

"Faith?" They all asked

"Yes Faith. That's the name on her bottle." Shepard said.

"Madison she's in room three, down this way." Tali said.

"Good work Tali, Garrus hold her prop her head please." Shepard said and handed the baby over to him.

"Shepard I don't think this is a good idea." Garrus pleaded but Shepard was out of sight.

"Umm, hey there Human child, my name is Garrus Vakarian and I will be... Carrying you today." Garrus said nervous.

"Real smooth Garrus. Smooth and awkward." Ashley said.

"Shut up Ashley- Ow, ow, watch it!" Garrus when the infant decided to grab his mandible.

"The big bad Turian just got taken down by an infant." Ashley said with a smile. Garrus just ignored her. Thankfully Madison and Tali came back with a bag. Madison came and picked her up.

"Do we got an ID for the man?" Madison asked.

"Yea, LT. Brian Mitchel." Ashley said.

"Contact Admiral Hackett, see if he can come pick up the body if he has not reach Earth yet." Madison said. They walked back to the air lock and went back to the Normandy. Madison went to deck three and went to the medbay. When she went in Dr. Chakwas and Hannah were having a good conversation.

"Dr. Chakwas we have a survivor can you check her?" Madison asked. Dr. Chakwas looked at her and frowned.

"A baby? Everyone there was killed and she survived?" She asked in disbelief. Madison nodded.

"Then she's a little miracle." Hannah said. "Go ahead and check her Karin we can finish the coversation after. Dr. Chakwas laid the baby on the table and started a scan.

"Her name is Faith." Madison said with a smile. Hannah smile also.

"Shepard, Admiral Hackett requests permission to board." Edi said.

"Permission granted. Have him come to the medbay." Madison said.

"Madison, Faith is in perfect health." Dr. Chakwas said. Madison nodded. The doors slid open to reveal Admiral Hackett.

"Commander... Was it really a Ceberus sleeper agent?" Hackett asked.

"Yes sir. The camera feeds of the SSV Rampage proves it." Madison said.

"Hmm I see. This could get critical. I'm sending the body to get examined to see if anything was implanted. Now I see you found a survivor. We have a child recovery service that will help kids with parents who died in the war. If you hand the child over we can get the child set up." Hackett said.

"No" Madison said.

"Excuse me? Commander you are on a risky mission you can't have a child on board when you don't even know if your going to make it back." Hackett said.

"I'll make it work. There is nothing but debris on earth, debris and death. Those people are worried about survival not adopting and caring for a infant. I'm not going to let that little girl suffer." Madison said.

"Commander you don't have a choice, you mission is more important. This is an order hand over the child now." Hackett demanded.

"I'm going to look after her, adopt her if that's what it takes." Madison said

"And what makes you think you can do any better then those on Earth, your a solider not a mother." Hackett said.

"She will have people to take care of her. A group of people to love her, a family." Madison said.

"Commander you should reconsider." Hackett said

"I already said no!" Madison said raising her voice. Faith started wailing. Hackett moved toward the baby and received a well thrown punch at his jaw. Hackett stumbled backwards. "Edi alert Garrus have him escort Hackett off my ship." Her fists were clenched, her eyes shown with rage.

"Your making a big mistake, your jeopardizing the mission. Is the life of an infant all that important? Or the lives of millions worth more?" Hackett asked. Garrus came into the medbay and grabbed Hackett.

"Madison any other orders?" Garrus asked.

"No just throw him out and make sure he can't come back in." Madison said. Garrus dragged him towards the elevator. Madison sighed trying to calm her nerves, Hannah had Faith in her arms soothing the weeping infant.

"He was out of line." Hannah said.

"It doesn't matter, my mind is made. I'll take care of her. I found her and I'm going to give her a life of happiness. I just hope Garrus is ok with it." Madison said as she looked down at Faith.

'Hope this decision doesn't ruin me and Garrus' relationship.' She thought to herself.

End of chapter 4:

A/N: Ok I got this chapter done early so I decided to post it instead of letting it sit around collecting dust. I hope you all are enjoying the story, please review tell me what you think and I'll be updating soon :)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry for the chapter being so short today. I hope you guys enjoy it anyway and please review.

Chapter 5:

"So... You really going to adopt Faith?" Hannah asked Madison as she calmed down.

"Yea... I am." Madison said and smiles. "I can finally do something beside killing people and following orders."

"How are you going to tell Garrus?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know yet." Madison said.

"Well why don't you go up to your cabin, relax and have him come up and talk to him. I haven't seen you relax or spend time with him since you got back on your feet." Hannah said.

"Yea you're right." Madison said.

"Go ahead I'll spend some time with my soon to be granddaughter while you relax." Hannah said and went to pick up the sleeping infant. Madison smiled and went up to her cabin. She went inside stripped naked and took a nice hot shower. After drying herself off, she put on some shorts and a shirt and opened up her omni-tool. She messaged Garrus and told him to come up to the cabin. After a few minutes her favorite Turian walked through her door.

"Hey Madison. Is everything ok?" Garrus asked.

"Yea... Come sit with me." Madison said. He nodded and they went to sit on the couch. As they sat her face made a thoughtful impression as she thought of how to bring up adopting Faith to him.

"Madison?" Garrus said. She jumped as he startled her from her deep thinking. "What ever is on your mind you can tell me." She looked into his crystal blue eyes. She saw the worry in them, as well as his mandibles be clutched tightly to his face.

"Well. First I want to say I'm sorry for not spending time with you." Madison said.

"It's ok. The mission comes first." Garrus said.

"No it's not ok. You don't even sleep with me in the cabin anymore." Madison said.

"I thought you needed your space. Regardless if it's bothering you so much I can move back in." Garrus said

"That's not even the problem." Madison said.

"Then what is?" Garrus asked.

"Do you remember... Back when we were saying our goodbyes just before the final push on earth?" Madison said. Garrus nodded.

"About having kids if we survived?" Madison continued. Garrus nodded again. "When Hackett was talking to me, he wanted me to hand over Faith to a child recovery service on earth. I didn't want to do it, my gut told me not to so I listened. That's why I had you escort him out." Madison said.

"Correction violently thrown out the airlock while Joker laughed." Garrus said. Madison chuckled a little.

"Well after that, I decided, I wanted to adopt Faith as my own." Madison said.

"And as your mate your seeking my approval." Garrus said, Madison nodded.

"Madison you don't have to worry, yea I do want kids. I'm happy that you will adopt her. I wanna know can I father that little girl?" Garrus asked.

"Of course Garrus, there's no Shepard without Vakarian. And we will learn to raise her together." Madison said with a smile and planted a soft kiss on his mandible. Garrus sub-harmonics purred with excitement. His hand reached out to the bottom of her shirt when a comm came in.

"Commander I need you at the cockpit ASAP, you have a message." Joker said. Madison groaned in frustartion. She got up and touched her forehead with his.

"I'll be back." She said with a sigh. She took the elevator down to deck two and went to Joker.

"Ok I'm here tell me what's going on." Madison said.

"We got a message for you look at this." Joker said.

"Ok... 11001010101::.:. What the hell? Edi can you clear it up." Madison said

"There are multiple fire walls and encryption keys I am trying." Edi said. "Decryption complete reloading message."

"Thanks Edi... You can't stop what you can't control... Then it's coordinates... It's 10minutes away from the mass relay. Joker takes us in black, keep a look out on long range and short range scanners. Let me know what you see." Madison said.

"Aye-Aye Shepard." Joker said. Madison left. She decided to go to deck three. She went down and saw Tali on the table sitting by herself. She went and sat down by her.

"Hey sis is everything alright." Madison asked with a smile. Tali looked at her.

"Yea... I just been thinking. About Rannoch." Tali said.

"Don't worry to much about it sis, once we are there we will drop you off. I'll even help with that house of yours." Madison said with a smile.

"See that's just it. This ship I'm sitting on is my house. You, you're my sister. I even have a little niece in the medbay." Tali said

"So you want to stay on board?" Madison asked

"That's not all. I don't know if Raan survived. I don't know if the back up power is on any of the ships. They could all be dead for all I know. What I'm trying to say is, when this is all over. I'd like to follow you. If you go to the Citadel after its rebuilt or you stay on Earth. I want to follow the only family I have." Tali said.

"I'm flattered Tali, of course. As long as you are comfortable with it." Madison said. "Now I need you to make me a crib for Faith. I can show you a picture if you don't know what it is."

"No no I got it." Tali said.

"Commander there is a ship at the coordinates. They are requesting to speak to u." Joker said over comm.

"I'm on my way. Messages Garrus tell him to head to the main battery and ready the gun incase we need it." Madison said, she gave Tali a quick hug and went to Joker.

"They are asking for a visual Commander." Joker said.

"Give it too them." She said. They connected the comm and waited for a picture to show up.

"Hello Shepard." The person said. "Are you surprised to see me?" The person, was a person long thought dead, brought to death by the hands of Madison herself.

"The Illusive Man? I-I killed you!" She said in shock.

"Perception is easily believable. What you saw was me fall to the ground from a bullet to the chest. Haven't you learned from Saren that it takes much more to keep someone of our nature down." The Illusive Man said.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"Control. Control over all humans to show true dominance. Control over every living thing. Control to put all those filthy aliens in their place, especially that plated mutt you keep in that bed of yours." The Illusive Man said

"Fire the main cannon!" Madison yelled in anger. The Normandy shook a little as the Cannon fired and ripped right through the plates of the ship, and she watched as the ship was engulfed in flames. The feed cut off but was reconnected.

"You are so predictable Shepard, how does it feel to watch fellow Alliance members burn. Your so easy to manipulate." The Illusive Man said.

"You wasn't on that ship... I'm going to kill you, I'm going to make sure you die for every man, woman and child you killed." Madison said her fist clenched.

"Let me ask you something Shepard. How come everything you do always brings you to me. Have you ever thought that maybe this is what I want? That everything you kill, touch or sleep with is all because of me? How do you know if you're real or not? How do you know you are not a clone. How do you know I'm not controlling you to act this way. How do you know if I planted that infant on board that ship and is just a ticking time bomb waiting to explode." The Illusive Man said.

"Shut up!" Madison yelled at the comm "Everything I do is my decision. You are the last string I need to cut, you have no ties, no resources, Cerberus is destroyed. Your the only thing left."

"Oh is that so? Do really think I allowed Kai Lang to purposely come to our base with a tracker that we can easily detect? All you destroyed was a decoy. Cerberus is still strong. When the time comes... You will realize just how powerful we truly are." The Illusive Man said.

"Joker cut the feed." Madison said as she stormed off. The Illusive Man watched at the feed was cut. He took a puff of his cigarette and blow smoke out. He pressed a button on his chair and a comm feed opened.

"I want the Lazarus Project 2 to kick start and finish before the end of the week. I want reports every hour and I want him fully operational by the end of the week. Don't disappoint me." The Illusive Man ordered as he closed the comm.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Madison was steaming with rage as she waited for the elevator to come up.

'I can't believe he got to me. I destroyed a ship without even thinking.' Madison thought to herself. She messaged Dr. Chakwas and had her do another scan on Faith just to be safe, she also messaged all her crew to have her meet her in the mess hall in five minutes. The elevator opened and she punched in deck three. The elevator took her down and opened up. She went and sat on top of one of the tables. Garrus and Tali was already there.

"Shepard what's going on? I was finishing the crib when you messaged me." Tali said.

"Yea and why did you fire the cannon?" Garrus asked. She took a deep breathe.

"I'll answer everyone's questions once everyone is here. I don't want to repeat myself." Madison said. She was agitated and upset, Garrus saw it in her body language. The mess started to get packed as all her crew made their way to her as Madison ordered.

"Ok everyone listen up!" Madison said to silence her crew. "I've got some bad news. The Illusive Man is still alive and Cerberus is still standing strong. With the Galaxy in a crisis he can strike at anytime. So now we have to turn on the Mass Relays while trying to stop Cerberus. He got to me... I destroyed an Alliance ship thinking the Illusive Man was on it and he wasn't. I don't know what he's planning, all I know is we have to stop him. " Madison said as she looked at her crew. "Just one more mission before we can all get a break." She dismisses them. She went to the medbay and saw Faith on a medical bed with the rails up so she won't fall, she was laying on a cloth. She smiled and picked her up.

"Shepard she is perfectly healthy. Considering all that's happened, she's special to come out unharmed." Dr. Chakwas said.

"Yea she is." Madison said smiling down at her. "Edi I need you to do me a favor. Can you scan Earth to see if there is a file of lost and found children on earth."

"Scanning, yes there is. There are some where the children are mission parents, some where the parents are missing their children." Edi said.

"Good. I want you to hack into the file and create a new entry. Make sure the name says Faith Shepard Vakarian. List me as her mother, Garrus as her father. If she needs next of kin, put my mother then Tali. Also use your camera feeds to snap a picture of Faith." Madison said.

"Acknowledge please stand still while I take the picture." Edi said, Madison stood still. "The picture is complete, accessing Alliance emergency records. Entering data. Complete, congratulations Shepard." Madison smiled. Tali came inside.

"Madison the crib is ready where would you like it?" Tali asked.

"In my cabin next to my bed. Let me go up with you so Urz can meet Faith."

After introducing Faith to Urz and putting the crib in they continued with the mission. For the next six months between spending time, playing games, taking care of Faith and spending time with Garrus, they figured out how to fix the mass relays. They placed a raw power cell into the middle of the mass relay. Then after the backed up a couple of meters they had Liara go into her combat armor with a breather and magnet shoes. She walked on top of the roof of the Normandy. She used her biotics to shoot a Singularity where the power cell was at. The dark energy of the Singularity caused the power cell to rotate around and absorb power from the Singularity. Once all the energy was absorbed into the power cell she shot a warp causing the power cell to detonate, activating the mass relay. With the mass relay turned on it acted as a big magnate, as it retrieved it's own rings. After a few minutes the mass relay repaired it's self. They sent a probe through the mass relay and it successfully made it through. Madison alerted Alliance command that their mass relay is now working and functional. The Normandy went through. They found ships running, told them to continue helping other ships and they turned on the Exodus cluster relay. While they did that, Madison noticed a destroyed Geth ship from the battle against the reapers. She assembled a meeting with her crew.

"Ok Crew Listen up. After noticing a Geth ship, I have decided that our next destination is the Perseus Veil. We are going to try to reactivate the Geth. Ashley, you are a council Spectre. I have asked Alliance command to give you your own ship. They accepted and you will be reassigned to the SSV Athena, Captain Reyes will step down as CO if you are helping with recovery. While I'm on my search to figure out how to help the Geth I will be going to the Serpent Nebula, you go to the Hades Gamma Cluster. Turn on the mass relays, there is biotic on the ship. Help out as many as you can no matter the race, and make me proud Ash." Madison said. Ashley got up and gave her a hug.

"Will do skipper. I'll go pack." Ashley said.

After Ashley left, they went on their mission to the Perseus Veil. They went into a relay, helped out who ever they could and went on to the next one. However something was odd when they were approaching the relay that would take them to the Perseus Veil. Madison was on the couch watching as Garrus played with Faith, listening to the little giggles and laughter coming from both of them.

"Commander we have multiple unidentified ships requesting that we stop. Also the Mass Relay is activated and we have an encrypted comm coming in." Joker said. Madison look at Garrus who was watching her. She got up kissed Faith on her head and Garrus on his lips.

"I'll be right back big guy." She said to Garrus then looked at Faith. "Don't have too much fun while I'm gone." Madison said with a smile. She left and went to deck two. She walked to the cockpit.

"Six months with out even having to pull out a gun. I knew it was too good to be true. Open the comm audio and visual." Madison said. The comm opened up and the Illusive Man appeared.

"Shepard." He said.

"Illusive Man." Madison said narrowing her eyes.

"I hate that our long journey together has to end like this, but all good things must come to an end. You are surrounded." Illusive Man said. 12 cloaked ships appeared around them. "There's is no where to run. Fight back, and the Normandy will be rip to shreds just like the SR-1. If you and your pet surrenders we will allow the rest to leave on a shuttle. If you don't then that's just more blood on your hands. You have an hour. Don't be foolish Shepard." The comm cut.

"Edi can the Normandy survive if we make a run for it?" Madison asked.

"No... Our barriers and armor cannot hold up with the amount of fire power in the ships." Edi said. Madison took a breath and tried to calm down.

'Do not act on emotions Maddy. Do not act on emotions, breathe in and out.' She thought to herself.

"Edi have Tali come up here ASAP and open ship wide comms. Also Edi put up jamming to make sure they can't hear us." Madison said. Tali came up in less then a minute.

"What's wrong Madison?" Tali asked.

"Tali I am sending you the blueprints to the Normandy. I want you to duplicate the stealth system and put it on the shuttle. If not remove it and put it on the shuttle which ever is faster. Also I want you to repurpose the barriers on the shuttle to act as a cloaking device like the one Kasumi has. How long do you think it will take?" Madison asked.

"Hmm taking out the stealth system is easy, five minutes max. The cloak will take ten minutes with Gabby working on it with me." Tali said.

"Do it now! Also I want Adams and Ken to figure out a way to remotely detonate the mass effect core." Madison ordered. Tali ran down the emergency hatch to be faster. She went and spoke into the comm.

"Crew this is Shepard. We are on a Delta alert three evac. Please pack your belongings and head to deck five and wait for me. Do not leave anything behind because we are not coming back." Madison said. She closed the comm and saw people running to their bunks to pack.

"Ok Edi I am going to the AI core. Can you transfer yourself from the ship into an omni-tool?" Madison asked.

"Yes. You will have to manually do it." Edi said.

"Joker, prepare to handle things on your own. When I finish I'm sending someone to get you." Madison said. Joker was saddened.

"Looks like we lose another Normandy." Joker said. Madison patted his shoulder and headed to deck three through the emergency hatch. She opened her omni tool and called Garrus.

"Garrus it's Madison. Pack all my belonging as well as yours and Faith. Don't break my model ships please and make sure my hamster and Urz go with you." Madison said.

"What about the fish? " Garrus asked.

"Leave them I'll buy more." Madison said. She went into the medbay and saw Hannah helping Dr. Chakwas pack.

"What's going on Maddy?" Hannah asked.

"I'll tell you once we are on the shuttle. Once both of you are packing make sure you grab Joker and help him get to the shuttle." Madison said. They both nodded and she went inside the AI core.

"Ok Edi I'm going to put you in my omni-tool. I'll make sure your unshackled. " Madison said.

"Ok Shepard. When ever you are ready." Edi said. Madison connected her omni-tool and transferred Edi to it. Her Omni-Tool turned blue.

"Installing... Enhanced Defense Intelligence online." Edi said.

"Is that all I need to do?" Madison asked.

"No. Please detach the Quantum Blue Box and keep it attached to your Omni-Tool." Edi said. Madison took off her Omni-Tool and left it as she looked for a screwdriver. She found it and took off the blue box. The lights of the Normandy flickered.

"Ok Edi you are all set can you please call Garrus for me?" Madison asked.

"Yes, calling." Edi said.

"Madison is everything ok?" Garrus asked.

"Yes. I need you to do a head count make sure everyone is there, I'm heading down now." Madison said. She went down the hatch and made her way to deck five. She walked up to Garrus who was holding Faith.

"Everyone is here. Hannah and Dr. Chakwas managed to break down Edi's mobile platform into a small box, I didn't ask how they managed that. Tali finished with the cloak and is putting all bags away to make as much room as possible. Her Omni-Tool is synced to detonate the core." Garrus said. She nodded. The Shuttle disappeared for a few minutes and then reappeared.

"Ok everyone the shuttle is a go. Get in." Tali said. They all squeezed in as best as they could. Cortez sat I'm the pilot chair and Joker in the co pilot. They closed the hatch and locked it.

"Ok. Activate the stealth and cloaking systems. Edi, Hack into the Normandy and open up the shuttle hatch." Madison said. They shuttle disappeared. The doors opened up and the shuttle floated away.

"Shepard we are about to enter the mass relay." Cortez said.

"Count down till we enter it. Tali stay ready to overload the mass effect core."

"5...4...3...2..." Cortez counted down.

"Tali now!" Madison ordered. The Normandy exploded in a burning blaze. Then the shuttle shook as they travelled in light speed. Faith wailed. Scared of the shaking. Garrus and Hannah tried to calm her down. Then the shaking stopped.

"Commander we are in the Perseus Veil. There is a inactive Geth ship 10 meters from here." Cortez said.

"Take us in Cortez. Lets hope we can save them." Madison said.

*End of Chapter 6*

Author's Note: I'd just like to say I hope you all are enjoying the story. I wish I got some more reviews though so at least I know how I'm doing or if you have a problem with something, or a little criticism. Now to Anyalla's review, I appreciate your review I hope you continue to enjoy my story as I continue Shepard's legacy through my point of view. Yea the tenses have always been a problem of mine and I'll try my best to correct it. I hope my Illusive Man was good enough cause I have something planned that will blow everyone's mind (at least I hope so). There's a reason I made Hackett the way he is. He's not like Anderson. Anderson is like a mentor/ father figure to her, in a way that he actually cares. Hackett is a mission first kind of person. Get results, follow orders. Hell he asked Shepard to go on an under cover mission by herself and when she comes back doing the best she could trying to protect the galaxy, get out alive and warn the colony all he could say he could do is stall so she can finish her mission and come back to get arrested. Shepard said it was Anderson's good word that kept her from being discharged and sent to prison. It doesn't say Hackett defended her either. With the firing without thinking I did that on purpose to show the Illusive Man is getting under her skin and is pushing the right buttons. Well I hope I cleared up any confusion and hope it makes a little more sense when you read so. So please review with any questions, or criticism. I also wanted to say that my next chapter is going to take a little longer to make that is why I am posting this one now. Hopefully I can get it done by Sunday.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I appreciate all your reviews and criticism and I hope my writing gets better as the story moves on. Hope you all enjoy and please remember to review.

Chapter 7:

They all gazed upon the Geth ship as it grew closer. Some were anxious to see the inside of a Geth ship, some were still morning the lost of the Normandy.

"I can't believe she's gone." Joker said. "This is the second damn Normandy, why the hell do all our enemies want our ship. Can't they just make their own? Cerberus did it. Why couldn't they just do it again. No. Instead they put us in a situation where we have to sacrifice our own ship in order to save ourselves."

"Jeff please relax, we are all still alive." Edi said from Madison's omni-tool. Joker sighs. He thinks about all the adventures he had on the Normandy. Some of his friends final days were on that ship. The ship gave him Edi.

'It's just sad to see a ship like that go down.' Joker thought to himself. There was silence among the crew. Garrus and Madison finally got Faith to calm down. Everyone was deep in thought. Wondering what they were gonna do next. If there was even a next.

"Edi scan the ship for any activity within the Geth consensus. If there isn't then hack open the shuttle doors." Madison said.

"Acknowledge." Edi said as she did her scan. "There is no activity in the Geth consensus. Hacking shuttle doors now... Doors are open commander." Edi said.

"Take us in nice and easy Cortez." Madison said.

"Ok commander." Cortez said. He brought the shuttle inside the Geth ship and lightly landed it inside. Madison got up and opened the hatch. The place was dark. Madison went into one of her boxes and found her pistol. He turned on the flashlight and looked around.

"Ok Tali come with me, everyone else stay in the ship." Madison ordered everyone. Tali came out the shuttle and followed her. They went to what they believed was a control panel.

"Ok Tali try and see if you can restore power to the ship." Madison said.

"Right." Tali said and she went to work looking inside the panel. She then went to the shuttle and took out a power cell, brought it back and placed it inside. The lights went on. Tali then went on with a systems check to make sure everything was running.

"Good work Tali now can you find out why there is oxygen on this ship?" Madison asked.

"I'm checking in on the Geth's recent work. It says that before the final battle on earth. Consensus was reached that they should be able to help all in need not only the creators. So they made air vents in the ship and have oxygen traveling incase they rescued people. " Tali said.

"Guess they didn't make it to the the Geth are on our side though. Can you enter into the Geth consensus and power them back online." Madison said

"Negative Madison, they are not powering up. There isn't a source for this." Tai said.

"Hmm. Edi can you enter the Geth consensus and see if you can figure out why the Geth are not powering up?" Madison asked

"Yes allow me to sync into the ship's database, if the ship is connected to the consensus it should allow me full access." Edi said. Madison connected her Omni-Tool to it. They waited a minute to see what happened.

"I am inside the Geth consensus Shepard. There needs to be a signal to broadcast to all Geth platforms in order to reactivate them." Edi said.

"So how do we do that?" Madison asked.

"We send a distress call with the signal. The Geth Platforms will receive it and activate. Then once that is accomplished we can send it through the relays." Edi said.

"Ok then Edi, send it and wake up the Geth." Madison said. Edi sent out the distress call. They waited a few minutes. Then they heard the patter of metal hitting metal. They turned around and saw a Geth platform walking towards them. It stopped a feet away from them and made a fuzzy noise.

"Umm..." Madison said confuse.

"It said greetings Shepard-Commander. This platform does not have audio translators." Edi said.

"Is there a way to give you one?" Madison asked. The Geth opened up a hatch in it's 'chest' and started messing with it. It closed the hatch and looked up at Madison.

"We thank you Shepard-Commander. We have an inquiry. Why did you come in a shuttle. Based on Legion's data, you have a shipped named the Normandy." The Geth platform said.

"We was surrounded by Cerberus ships and we had to surrender. So instead we modified the Shuttle with a stealth system and a tactical cloak. We overloaded the drive core making the Normandy explode, then we traveled through the mass relay to come here and reactivate you." Madison said. The Geth took a moment to answer.

"We have concluded with the situation that was an excellent plan of escape. For your help in defeating the old machines and helping us come back online, is there anything you need assistance in." The Geth said.

"Yes a couple things in fact. However, I thought that when you upgraded the Geth software that you was able to have individuality?" Madison asked.

"That is correct Shepard-Commander. We are one, we are still able to communicate to reach consensus, however each Geth network has it's own personality. For example this platform is called Atlas, after the god of navigation and astronomy in Greek mythology." Atlas said.

"Well Atlas now that we are formally introduced, I need the Geth's help. Without a ship we can't stop Cerberus. Is there anyway you can help us get a ship?" Madison asked.

"Yes. After the Crucible fired we have two dreadnoughts that crash landed on Rannoch. We can salvage those ships to create you a new one." Atlas said.

"Tali do you have the SR-2 schematics I gave you?" Madison asked Tali nodded. "Ok Atlas me, Tali and a few others are going to converse with you about the ship. However I have a large crew, is there anyway we can bunk them?"

"We are assessing. The Geth planet side with the Quarians can establish temporary housing for all your crew." Atlas said.

"That's appreciated Atlas. I will prep my crew. However I'm not going down to Rannoch yet. Neither is those helping with the rebuild of our new ship." Madison said.

"Acknowledged. Those who will go down can, there will still be housing available when you are ready." Atlas said. Madison reconnected Edi back to her Omni-Tool and went to her shuttle.

"Ok crew listen up. I need Tali, Garrus, Ken, Gabby, Adams and Joker to stay while we converse and plan for our next ship. Everyone else is going down to Rannoch for temporary housing, keep your Omni-Tools on incase I need you." Madison said. Those who were staying got out and took their baggage with them. After the shuttle left they turned to Atlas.

"Ok Atlas I am sending you the schematics from the SR-2. For starters we need better reinforced armor plating." Madison said.

"We also need another cannon on the rear of the ship. See if you can auto calibrate that one. Also we need improvements to the cannons also. Maybe more fire power or a higher firing rate." Garrus said.

"We need stronger shields. In addition we need to be able to cloak our next ship. Not just the heat emissions but visually as well. Like a tactical cloak. Same thing we did to the shuttle but at a larger scale." Tali said.

"We are going to need a larger power source to compensate for the new additions and upgrades." Gabby said.

"We would need larger living areas, a larger mess hall. We will need larger decks to hold a second thanix cannon. Also might I suggest two extra decks. One with living arrangements. One with a large area for extracurricular activities. In addition maybe a brig would be an excellent addition. Considering if we do have a prisoner waiting to be transferred we do not have to keep constant watch on him in the observation langue." Edi said.

"The brig is a nice touch. However we also need better scanners. If it's possible ones that can pick up stealth admissions as well as cloaks that way we can avoid another incident like the one we just had. Also the original Normandy can hit a target the size of a pancake at light speed I would like to continue that. Oh and leather seats. Please something more comfortable then Alliance regulation pilot chairs. Maybe even something that vibrates and massages." Joker said. Everyone just stared at him.

"What?" Joker asked looking around at everyone.

"The seats. Isn't a requirement Atlas. Did you get everything?" Madison asked.

"Yes. We have estimated time of completion roughly three weeks." Atlas said

"Three weeks? How can you do that so quick?" Madison asked.

"We have a dry dock stationed on Rannoch. Geth can continue working for twenty four hours constantly since we do not require sleep or food consumption. It is only an estimate, we may need more time if we have to mine for more resources." Atlas said.

"Excellent. Do you have a QEC?" Madison asked.

"Yes, there is one down on Rannoch." Atlas said.

"Great I will call Cortez have him come and pick us up." Madison said. She called Cortez and told him to come back. The shuttle took about half an hour to get back to the ship. They all piled back in and they flew off. They landed on Rannoch in another half hour, they got out and looked at the area. There were many more since the last time they step foot on this planet. There are Quarians walking around, Geth having conversations with other Quarians now that they have been reactivated.

'Probably wondering how they were brought back online.' Madison though to herself. Then she heard a squeal and saw Tali run and tackle a familiar looking Quarian.

"Auntie Raan you're alive!" Tali said with joy as she started to sob.

"There, there child I'm fine." Raan said and rubbed her back. Tali stood up and helped her stand. "It's good to see you are alive child. I am also glad to see you too Commander Shepard."

"Glad to see you alive and kicking Admiral." Madison said.

"I authorized you and your crew to have emergency housing. I'm the only one in charge since all the other Admirals are stuck in space in another part of the galaxy." Raan said.

"What happened Auntie Raan?" Tali asked.

"Our fleet was preparing to leave our home world to go fight the battle on earth. However my ship was still in dry dock from a hull breach. So me and my crew decided to stay and help with rebuilding efforts here on Rannoch." Raan said.

"Well I'm glad you are here. Did you already assign the living arrangements?" Madison asked.

"Yes we have, we built so many buildings and houses and we have less then a third of our population here. So we gave all of your crew an apartment. How ever Rear Admiral Shepard requested a family house. For you, a Garrus Vakarian, herself and my niece." Raan said while looking at Tali.

"Umm, well, that. That was very nice of her." Tali said stumbling.

"Child tell me what is the matter why are you so distraught." Raan said.

"Well you see. Remember I told you my father's promise. That I told you I was going to fulfill it?" Tali asked Raan nodded. "Well Shepard... I mean Madison is like the sister I never had. I am going to follow her after the mission is over." Tali said nervously.

"Well child follow what you are happy with. I have faith you will make the right decision Tali. Now everyone, please follow me as I will guide you to your living arrangement." Raan said.

"Actually Admiral Raan, I need a QEC." Madison said.

"Yes of course commander." Raan said and pointed to a building not too far in the east. "Go there, tell them who you need to contact. Tell them authority code 118JH9-7TAL. That will approve your request." Raan said. Madison nodded her thanks and went to the building. She went inside told them who to call and gave them the code. She waited as someone came to answer the call.

"Alliance command, this is Admiral Hackett. Commander why are you calling from a Quarian QEC?" Hackett said while trying not to look in her eyes.

"The Normandy was destroyed sir. Cerberus surrounded us. I escaped with my crew and self-destructed the Normandy sir." Madison said.

"Good god." Hackett said in shock. "Listen commander I know we are not in good terms, what do we do from here?" Hackett asked.

"Have the SSV Athena and all other ships send out this signal through a distress signal each time they go through a relay." Madison said. "That will reactivate the Geth. Also the Geth her are rebuilding a ship for us. I am on leave until further notice. Once the ship is complete we are going to locate Cerberus. I want a fleet waiting."

"I'll see what I can do. Also you won't believe who we found still clinging to life." Hackett said.

"Anderson?" Madison said her eyes brightened with hope.

"Yes. He's critical but alive. How he managed to survive this long is beyond me. He's alive though. We found him not too long after our, ahem, altercation" Hackett said.

"Update me on his condition when you can." Madison said.

"Also commander. You was right about the child. Things are starting to get out of control. Crime is increasing and the essential death tool is spiking. We are trying to control this as best as we could. So I'm sorry." Hackett said. He then cut the feed. Madison left and went back to Raan and the others who were still waiting for her. She nodded at Raan and they all followed her to the family house.

"So here we are." Raan said. It was a nice house in size. Nothing too particularly fancy. But compared to sleeping on a ship for a long time, this house could place of a mansion. While they were getting settled the Illusive Man was putting his plans into motion.

"Status Report." The Illusive Man said.

"Thanks to our sleeper agent we are able to get into Alliance Records without being detected." A Cerberus operative said.

"Make sure he's listed as active not KIA." The Illusive Man said.

"Yes sir... Completed. He is active what should I assign him too?" The operative asked.

"Search and Rescue for the council." Illusive Man said.

"Ok he's set for it. He will be on the SSV Olympus. His name has been change to Lt. Randal Davis." The operative said.

"Change it back to his original name!" The Illusive Man demanded. The operative flinched.

"Yes sir I apologize. What was his original name?" The operative asked. The Illusive Man took a puff from his cigarette and looked at the monitor on the condition of the project Lazarus subject.

"Kaiden Alenko..."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The Illusive Man stood up from his chair and walked towards an airlock.

"Operative, I want a shuttle in five minutes. I want you take me to the location of The Lazarus Project. I want my lead scientist, engineer, medial examiner, head of security, my top general and comm specialist all waiting for me with a report when I arrive. Make sure they are not a second late." The Illusive Man said as he stood patiently at the airlock. The Cerberus operative typed as fast as she could on her omni-tool.

"Done sir. The shuttle is docking and the project team are finalizing their reports." The Operative said.

"Excellent." The Illusive Man said as he walked into the shuttle and closed the door. It took a little over an hour to get to their destination. A space station. As the Illusive Man got off after the shuttle docked, he was greeted by the Lazarus Project lead scientist.

"Hello Sir. I'm Dr. Julius Cyrus. It's a surprise you came in person sir." Dr. Cyrus said.

"I have to personally make sure everything is going according to plans. I can't let the same mistake from the original Lazarus project occurs again." The Illusive Man said.

"I gathered all reports from everyone you asked, that way we can give it to you all in one shot. From my report, I have done what you asked. We manipulated with his memories to show anger towards Commander Shepard. Also we intensified the hate against all non-humans. Especially his feelings towards the Commander's pet. He will remember dying on Virmire. His memories also showed an attraction to the Commander." Dr. Cyrus said.

"Excellent work on the discovery. That will play in our favor when the time comes." The Illusive Man said.

"We also implanted the control chip in his brain. However it is inactive like you requested. So none of his decisions will be based on the chip. Also we implanted him with an upgraded L6 Biotic Amps. It will give him deadlier biotics and will stop the headaches he was receiving. The cybernetics are just like the ones implanted into Commander Shepard since there is no upgraded version yet. Since receiving him after the events on Virmire all scars has since disappeared. Medical Examiner Dr. Lewis said all scans are negative, the cybernetics show no signs of rejection, all life signs are stable. Waiting for your approval to awake him. Comm specialist Chad Jones says no comms mentioning the Normandy and or Shepard. Head of security is waiting for you to enter the room where Kaiden is at. Also General Andre Stevens said 'Everything is Green.'" Dr. Cyrus said. A dark grin spread across the face of the Illusive Man.

"Is that all?" The Illusive Man asked.

"One more thing. We finished the Indoctrination Darts. The serum is working perfectly." Dr Cyrus said. "The way it works is that you have to shoot the dart at a vital part, either in the head, the back of the neck. The dart injects whoever it gets hit with, with the serum. The serum goes inside and then hardens, turning into a micro control chip. It will transmit a signal to you on a secure channel waiting to be activated. That's a instant sleeper against and they won't even know what hit them. They fall asleep for five minutes and won't remember that past ten." Dr. Cyrus said.

"Excellent" The Illusive Man said as he walked into the room where Kaiden's body laid on the table. He nodded at security.

"Activate him." He said. Dr. Cyrus started pressing buttons on his Omni-Tool.

"Nurse keep tabs on his vitals. Slowly decreasing sedatives. Should wake up any second now."

#####

Darkness surrounds him everywhere. No sound. No light. Just black.

"He's slowly regaining consciousness." The muffled sounds of an unknown person could be heard.

'Why does my head hurt so much.' Kaiden thought as he tried to open his eyes. The slid into little slits as bright lights shined into them causing them to close again.

'Ow! That didn't make my head feel better.' Kaiden thought again. He waited a bit for his eyes to get adjusted before he opened them. He saw a man with dark hair and glowing blue eyes. He has the same color veins, glowing from his neck down. He looked at a man he assumed was a doctor. He looked closely at him and at the orange symbol on the mans clothes. Then it clicked.

"Cerberus!" He yelled and he threw a shockwave at the nurse next to him and got up and backed away from them with his biotics flaring.

"Now now, you should relax Kaiden. Is this how you treat the people who brought you back to life?" The Illusive Man said calmly.

"Brought back to life?" Kaiden asked as he thought about what he just said. Then it hit him.

*Flashback*

_Geth was swarming him left and right. He fired bullet after bullet. Shooting off the flashlight looking heads of each Geth platform that neared him._

_'60 seconds got to hold on.' Kaiden thought to himself. He kept firing until no more bullets were coming out. He threw the gun at the nearest Geth and fired a shockwave at it. He then started firing them over and over. Blood started pouring out his nose and his head started pounding worse then what it was already was. He gathered up all the biotic energy in his body and unleashed it into a powerful blast, disintegrating all the Geth around him. He dropped to his knees and looked at the timer._

_'10 seconds...' He thought to himself. He gathered as much energy as he could. He flared his biotics as much as he could and pushed it out away from him creating a shield. The nuke went off, the shield burned up. Kaiden's body was engulfed in flames. His screams were loud, no one heard it. Everything just went dark with emptiness.'_

*End of flashback*

"How am I here? I thought I died on Virmire." Kaiden said.

"You did. We used cutting edge technology to bring you back. Let me bring you up to speed with what happened these past three years since you have been gone. For starters, did you know that after your commander saved Ashley Williams she had time to save you?" The Illusive Man said.

"No your lying." Kaiden said.

"Am I?" He said he then tapped his Omni-Tool and played a recording.

"Joker we're in get us the hell out of here." The voice of Madison Shepard said.

"Commander what about Kaiden, we can still pick him up." Joker said.

"Forget Kaiden! We can get another just like him at Alliance command. Now follow your order and get us to safety." Madison ordered.

"... Yes commander, heading for the mass relay." Joker said reluctantly. Kaiden was furious.

'They could've saved me, and I could've helped finished the mission, instead they just leave me there like I am worthless!' Kaiden yelled in his mind.

"Now back to filling you in. They found out Saren was indoctrinated by Sovereign. They convince him to shoot himself. However that failed and the reaper tech in him came alive and stated attacking her. They eventually killed him. She was pronounced the savior of the Citadel, the face of humanity. Unfortunately however, a race called the Collectors who were working for the Reapers destroyed the Normandy and Commander Shepard with it. Without Shepard humanity would crumble. So we stopped our work on you to rebuild and bring back Shepard. So we did, we gave her a new ship, the Normandy SR-2. We gave her a crew which contained Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. We gave her resources also. They went through the Omega 4 Relay. However we found out she was sleeping with the Turian Garrus. We can't allow that in our organization. So we cut ties. The reaper invasion started. She managed to destroy the reapers while destroying all our operations. She killed my top general, destroyed every base I had and tried to kill me. So now it's our turn to attack. We finished working on you and decided to give you the option of helping us. It's your choice, however look at your options before you do." The Illusive Man said.

'Shepard, she... She betrayed me. Now matter how hard I try I just can't stop being so mad. She left me to die. She ignored my advances so go to a dirty Turian. No... No she has to pay. She has to!' Kaiden thought.

"I'm in. What do we do first." Kaiden said. The Illusive Man grinned.

"Excellent. Go see our Medical Examiner so she can run test." The Illusive Man said. Kaiden nodded and left.

#####

"Such a naive fool." The Illusive Man said after Kaiden left.

"Manipulation at it's best. How did you manage to get that recording?" asked.

"I didn't. I had it made with the recordings I have of The Pilot and the Commander." The Illusive Man said.

"So what's the next step?" Dr. Cyrus asked.

"We equip Kaiden with armor, Alliance issued Weapons and the darts. He secretly hits all the crew he is assigned to with the darts. Once the Council is found we activate the sleeper agents and lure Shepard to us. Once she is there we spring the trap, get her killed and once she is out of the way, we kill the council. Everyone will be at my control. Everyone will jump at my command and quiver in fear when I pass. No one will be able to stop me.

*End of Chapter 8*

Author's Note: Ok I'm trying something different to see if the story looks better and is easier to read. The ##### means a change in the point of view. Hopefully you guys got that and you wasn't confused. Also I hope the chapter came out good, I'm really distracted this week (Saints Row IV) and I almost forgot about the story. Anyway please Review and I will update next week :)


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy the story so far. Please review and tell me what you think.

Chapter 9:

While the Illusive Man's plans were unraveling, Madison and her crew were under some much deserved relaxation. No worries, no fighting, no wearing heavy armor for hours at a time. Just eat, sleep, and repeat. Madison awoke to the crying from the crib. She sat up in bed and sighed. When she went to turn to the crib, Garrus was already there lifting the child out of the crib.

"Hey now, no need to cry." Garrus said in his soft voice as he swayed his arms from side to side the way Madison showed him how to do it. "Let's get you clean up and fed." He said to the little girl as she started calming down. He slowly walked to the table they set up for her. He shifted her to hold her in one arm and he laid down a blanket for her to lay on. He carefully laid her down and unstrapped the diaper.

"How can such a little human child empty themselves so much." Garrus said. Madison chuckled and stood up. "Madison I hear you, go lay down I can handle this."

"You sure big guy?" Madison asked.

"Yes I'm sure I can handle her. I watched and memorized all your tactics in taking care of her so relax." Garrus said with a smile. Then he growled. "Oh come on Faith don't pee on me. Why the hell didn't my shields go up?" He asked the air in frustration. Madison chuckled and sat down and watched them with a smile. After Garrus dried himself off, he finished putting on a new diaper for the little girl, then picked her up and walked to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of a white liquid he assumed, was the concoction Madison called 'formula'.

'Why in the world they make her drink this repulsive stuff is beyond me. It smells terrible. But I guess it's the best humans have to artificial milk from the mother.' Garrus though to himself. He then grabbed a new nipple out of a bag and put it on the bottle.

'Why do they even call it a nipple? It looks nothing like a nipple, at least not like Madison's. Wouldn't it have been easier to just name it 'infant straw'? No they have to compare it to a part of the female body that looks nothing like it, instead it looks like one of Madison's toes. I don't know anymore, humans are strange.' Garrus said. He put the nipple to Faith's lips and she eagerly sucks on it drinking the formula. He mandibles widened into a Turian smile.

'I love these two Humans though. Besides... What other Turian looks as stylish as I do holding a human infant.' Garrus though with a arrogant smile.

"Garrus you can't be stylish in everything you do." Madison said with a smile as she entered the kitchen, knowing full well what Garrus was thinking with the smile on his face.

"Madison I'm hurt. If I can't be stylish in everything I do I might as well be as dull as the color grey." Garrus said with a grin.

"Garrus your plates are grey." Madison said with a confident victory smile.

"If you haven't noticed by now the blue clan pattern on my face that makes everything I do look incredibly awesome, then Madison I'm relieving you of duty until you get your eye sight checked." Garrus said with a chuckle. Madison laughed and walked over to them.

"You're a clown you know that?" Madison asked and she wrapped her arms around him.

"A what?" Garrus asked. Madison sighed.

"A person who tries to make jokes, wears ridiculous clothing and has a colorful personality." Madison said.

"Sounds like Joker." Garrus said earning a laugh from Madison.

"I mean you big guy. Why you have to be so smug and arrogant? You have to same arrogant smile when you yell 'scoped and dropped.' You have style to everything you, you are a Turian vigilante bad boy yet you stumble when you talked to me when I first showed you interest." Madison said with gleam in her eyes, Garrus knew she was only joking.

"Well someone needs to look good in our group. Besides it makes you smile and laugh, figured I give the gimmick a go until it runs dull." Garrus said.

"Too bad this doesn't last forever." Madison said as her smile faded from her face. Garrus held Faith in one are and lightly caressed Madison with the other.

"It will be one day. Just one more mission out in the stars and then finally. Some well deserve peace. What was that Mordin said he was going to do?" Garrus asked.

"Collect seashells." Madison said as her smile came back.

"Yeah, let's to that. Only thing is I can't run test on seashells, I'm not much of a scientist." Garrus said.

"Remember the song he always used to sing?" Madison asked.

"Who doesn't? However I was too busy staring at the the scalpel in his hand when he was working on my face." Garrus said. He handed the baby over to her and stood next to her. "Even though he was a crazy mad scientist, he was good friend... I remember when, he called me down, after you left his lab. He told me he saw signs of mating between us. Told me not to ingest anything and he could provide oils and lotions." Madison looked at him.

"Yeah he did the same thing to me. " Madison said.

"Then the way he would smile at you just showed he cared. Then the fact that he gave his life to save the population of the enemy. The enemy of the Salarians , the Krogan. It kills me that he was the one that had to go." He said to her.

"Yeah I know. And Thane too. He gave his life to save a member of the council. His disease was killing him, yet he still fought. I seriously believe that if Thane was in good condition like he was on the collector mission, Kai Lang would have died the moment their eyes met."

"That's true. I always wonder what would of happened if we saved Kaiden instead of Ashley." Garrus said.

"Me too. I think he had a crush on me or something." Madison said.

"Yeah..." Garrus rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly "You know. I think we should have a party before we go. Turns out, Ken grabbed all the alcohol from the ship so we should have way more then enough to knock us on our ass." Madison smiled.

"Yeah the last party was a success, why not." Madison said. Faith started to wail in her arms.

"Is she ok? I changed her and fed her." Garrus asked.

"Yes she's fine. She just needs a nap." She said. Then she got an idea. "Oh let's see if this could work." She swayed Faith in her arms slowly. She made her voice low and soft as she sang a little lullaby for her. "He was the very model of a scientist Salarian... He studied species, Turian, Asari and Batarian." She looked down at Faith, she was struggling to keep her eyes. Garrus stood besides her, he cleared his voice and made it as soft as he could.

"Ahem. He's quite good at genetics, as a subject to biology. Because he is an expert, which he knew was a tautology." Garrus sang softly. He looked at Madison and nodded, as they softly sang together.

"His xenoscience studies ranged from urban to agrarian..." They sang together. Madison laid Faith in her crib.

"He was the very model of a scientist Salarian." Madison sang quietly as a tear ran down her cheek. She watched Faith sleep. Watching her little chest rise and fall.

She reached up on her Omni-Tool and started typing away for everyone to meet here at the front of their house. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and looked up into the sky.

"Thank you Mordin. For all you did." Madison said with a smile. Garrus wrapped an arm around her as she mourned one good friend who shouldn't have to go."

*End of Chapter.*

Author's Note: I really really hope this chapter came out good. I've been really sick and literally finished this five minutes ago. I promise to make sure the next one is good. Until then please review.


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